A letter from Alexandria says that Cleopatra's needle is hardly
worth the trouble and expense of bringing it to England. "It is interesting from the associations attached to it, but it will cause disappointment if it is expected to prove an ornament, as it is in a very mutilated state, the edges being broken off and the hieroglyphics much defaced. The length at present un- covered by the sand is about thirty-five feet from the apex, with from three to four feet down the sides, and the whole of what is visible is in the same dilapidated condition. It meat also be said that the longer it is left in its present position the worse it will become, from the anxiety of all travellers to possess pieces of it, which the native boys knock off largely to sell. The base of the obelisk is about twenty feet distant from the sea, and the city- wall will have to be broken through to remove it."
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